About

Bio

Alexander Manu is a strategic foresight practitioner, innovation advisor, international lecturer and author. He is a Senior Partner at Equilibrant, a boutique consultancy that provides strategic counsel and future based advisory to executive teams in Fortune 500 companies in industries as diverse as consumer packaged goods, media, logistics, advertising, communications and manufacturing. He is a Professor at OCADU University in Toronto, and since 2007 on the faculty of the Schulich Executive Education Centre (SEEC) at the Schulich School of Business. In 2018 Alexander became the Global Innovation Steward at Holofy, a vibrant London (UK) based organization that builds technology that creates authentic connections between businesses and their customers.

Between 2007-2019 Alexander was an Adjunct Professor at Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, where he introduced Innovation, Foresight and Business Design in the MBA curricula. Since 2021 Alexander Manu teaches Innovation, Value Creation and Foresight Methods in the MBA in Entrepreneurship Program at the York Entrepreneurship Development Institute (YEDI) at York University in Toronto.

In his client and research work, Alexander transforms organizations by integrating disruption in everyday business, defining new competitive spaces, developing new strategic business competencies, and creating imaginative innovation methods. He believes that the exploration of possibility requires imagination as a prerequisite for strategic change and innovation. For over 30 years, he has enabled global companies as diverse as Motorola, LEGO, Whirlpool, Nokia, Navteq and Unilever, to develop policies and strategies that address emerging issues through strategic foresight and pre-competitive business models.

Alexander Manu was the Founder (2005) and Director of the Beal Centre for Strategic Creativity, a non-profit research think tank operating in Toronto, where he developed new methodologies in strategic foresight, focusing on the intersection of behavior, technology, and business capability.

Author of " The Philosophy of Disruption ", 2022, "Dynamic Future-Proofing: Integrating Disruption in Everyday Business", 2021, Transforming Organizations for the Subscription Economy: Starting from Scratch"2017 " Value Creation and the Internet of Things" 2015, "Behaviour Space: Play, Pleasure and Discovery as a Model for Business Value" 2012, "Disruptive Business", 2010, "Everything 2.0: Redesign your Business Through Foresight and Brand Innovation", 2008, "The Imagination Challenge : Strategic Foresight and Innovation for the Global Economy" , 2006" ToolToys: Tools with an Element of Play", 1995, and "The Big Idea of Design", 1998 , as well as of numerous articles published in national and international periodicals.

His most recent book, "Transcending Imagination: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Creativity " was released by CRC Press/Taylor&Francis in April 2024.

Alexander has had exceptional and sustained activity as an international lecturer, being invited to give over 600 keynote lectures in 27 countries. A past president of the Association of Chartered Industrial Designers of Ontario, he was elected twice on the board of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID). A past member of various advisory boards active at government levels in Canada and the Far East, he has consulted on foresight strategies for the Department of Canadian Heritage, the China External Trade Development Council, Taiwan Design Centre, Korea Institute of Design Promotion and is a founding member of Design for the World (Barcelona), an international NGO that provides and promotes humanitarian design solutions.

Alexander has been a guest lecturer at over 45 distinguished post secondary institutions around the world. He was elected in 1994 to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) in recognition of his contribution to the development of design and visual arts in Canada.

Other relevant career data

MEMBER ON INTERNATIONAL JURIES

• Jury Member, Feel the Planet Earth '08 CIFIAL Design Award. Portugal. 2008
• Jury Member, Taiwan Design Prize, Taiwan 2006.
• Jury Member, Fennia Design Prize, Finland, 2004.
• Jury Member, Braun Design Prize, 2003
• Nominator, 10th Osaka International Design Award, Osaka, 2000.
• Nominator, 9th Osaka International Design Award, Osaka, 1999.
• Nominator, 8th Osaka International Design Award, Osaka, 1997.
• Jury Member, 29th SMAU Industrial Design Award, Milano, 1996.
• Jury Member, Mino Ceramics Design Competition, Gifu, Japan, 1995.
• Jury Member. Canada Awards for Business Excellence,1989.
• Jury Member, Taiwan Good Design Award, 1988.

PAPERS IN REFEREED JOURNALS:

Re-Becoming Me: A Case for Finding Play Again.Manu, Alexander. 2018 MISC- A Journal of Strategic Insight and Foresight, Volume 28, 2018, pp.120-122
The Business of Behaviour Space.Manu. Alexander. 2012. Rotman Magazine. Toronto. Fall 2012.
A Strategic Scenario for Brand Lotto.Manu, Alexander. 2011. Public Gaming International, 01/02 2011, pp20-21/32-33
The Anatomy of Experience.Manu, Alexander. 2010. Innovation Quarterly, Industrial Designers Society of America. Summer 2010. pp 51-54.
Desire: The True Driving Force of Innovation.Manu, Alexander.2010 Rotman Magazine, Spring 2010. pp. 81-83
On the Frontlines of Change. Manu, Alexander. Antola, Tuula. Seagram, Kelly. 2007. Kasvun Haasteet. Kaamos Boardman 2007. pp.45-53.
Unleashing Strategic Creativity and Foresight in Business. Manu, Alexander.2007 Canadian Business Magazine. August 2007. p.29
La Forma Sigue la Posibilidad. Manu, Alexander.2003. (original English title: Imagination Takes Command). Proyectodiseño. Nr.32, 2003. p.42-44
Concurrent Design Directions.Manu, Alexander.2003. Design Buletin. Nr. 12 2003 p.38-41
The Origins and current status of the ToolToy Concept. Manu, Alexander. 2000. Disegno industriale - Revista semestrale sull'isegnamento e la ricerca progetualle. Vol.1 Issue 1, November 2000.
The Big Idea of Design. Manu, Alexander. 1999.
Trend Almanach 2000, pp.8-10
Towards a New Model for Industrial Design.Manu, Alexander. 1999. Design DK 2:1999, pp.1-8
Design Marks 1997Manu, Alexander. 1997.. Hot&Cool. DesignNews No. 239 p.19
Back to Basics. Manu, Alexander. 1996. Innovation - IDSA Fall: 1996. p.37-40
Thoughts on the situation of design. Manu, Alexander. 1996. Design Archive. 3: p.17- 20
Redefining Design or Rethinking it?Manu, Alexander. 1996. DesigNum. 5:23-24
Is it true that the horizon is further away if you are standing up? Manu, Alexander. 1995. Form -Designtidskriften. 11: p.28-33.
Designing Within a Context.Manu, Alexander. 1995. Studio Magazine,Vol.13-2, p.22- 24.
Look at What we Can do Now!Special Effects, Technology and the loss of culture Manu, Alexander. 1995.. Studio Magazine. Vol.13-3, p.22-25
Chasing Butterflies-Thoughts on the Big Idea of Design. Manu, Alexander. 1995. Studio Magazine. Vol.13-4, p.28-29.
The Big Idea of Design.Manu, Alexander. 1995. Studio Magazine. Vol.13-1. p.19-22
Opinions on Design Education for Children. Manu, Alexander. 1994. Design News. No.226, p.17.
The Mexico Papers- searches for a new design future. Manu, Alexander. 1993. ICSID News1. p.3.
Chasing Butterflies.Manu, Alexander. 1993. Azure, 10: p.14.

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS

The content of the book ToolToys, published in 1995, was the basis of the international design exhibition of the same name which was curated by Alexander Manu and designed by Mikael Fuhr, which opened for seven showings in five countries.

1996: ToolToys. Exhibition. Frederiks Bastion, Copenhagen, Denmark.
1997: ToolToys. Exhibition. Norsk Form, Oslo, Norway.
1998: ToolToys. Exhibition. Centro de Arte La Estancia, Caracas, Venezuela.
1998: ToolToys. Exhibition. Sala del Archivo Foral, Bilbao.
1999: ToolToys. Exhibition. Museo Provincial de Ciudad Real. Spain.
1999: ToolToys. Exhibition. Museo Miro, Barcelona, Spain.
2000: ToolToys. Exhibition. Karlsruhe, Germany.
2001: ToolToys Exhibition. Danish Design Center, Copenhagen, Denmark.